Arkansas’ ninth governor — the first after the Civil War, and first Republican governor — was an early and heavy investor in the future of the a-borning Eureka Springs, where the initial (and many subsequent) events of the “People of the Water” Cycle occur.

He helped found the railroad, a company that built much of the town and the Crescent Hotel, and the effort to build decorative retaining walls throughout Eureka with skilled Irish labor.

Enigmatic, private, passionate and opposed to the racism of the Ku Klux Klan, Powell Clayton used his influence to build the town, the state — even national foreign relations with Mexico late in his career.

His home in Eureka Springs — a beautiful gingerbread Victorian in shades of pink-to-brick — sits on Spring Street, across from the beautiful Crescent Spring gazebo.

A few links below will quickly acquaint you with this firebrand, a character mentioned in the first book of the Cycle, “The Water Cure.”

https://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/pclayton.htm

https://www.eurekasprings.com/historical/powellclayton.html